(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

Oh man that was not how I expected my afternoon to go.

So, the doctor told me to fast from 11am onwards because I was going to have bloodwork done at my 3:30 appointment. I had breakfast around eight and thought, ok, no more food. I arrive at the doctor's office at 3 for my 3:30 appointment, because I'm like that, and they said "No paperwork! Go ahead and have a seat."

3:30 arrives.

4:00 arrives.

Round about 4:10 I got up and asked if maybe I could get an ETA on when I would see the doctor. I know doctors get behind sometimes, I was cool with waiting, but it's unusual to be half an hour late and not even put someone in an exam room.

Turns out not only is he running late, but they forgot about me. So, and I only found this out around 4:45 (yes, 4:45) when they put me in an exam room, they bumped me to after the patient behind me, making me the last person the doctor will see that day. At 5:03, I decide my doctor is not going to be my doctor anymore; he can write me a scrip and then he is fired. He is super fired when I hear him checking his voicemail in the next room at 5:20.

At 5:30 it ceases to matter, because a different doctor shows up and says he's filling in. We talk, I get refills on one prescription and a change of another, and he mentions that the lab techs have gone home so I will not be getting blood tests today. He decides, I don't know why, to take my blood pressure at this point.

My blood pressure is 140 over 90, not surprising, as one of the reasons I see this doctor is elevated blood pressure. But he says "That's a little high". Now, I'm tired and hungry so I'm crankier than usual, and so I reply rather drily, "Well, I have been here for two and a half hours now."

And he says, "What?"

So I explain what happened, and he says "I'll be right back" and then I hear shouting. I'm pretty sure I caused some kind of doctor fight. Which was not my intention, but I can't say I'm upset that finally someone went to bat for me.

Then he came back and apologised to me and said I could go, and we'd get the blood work done next time. And I took his business card.

And then I came home and ate an apple without chewing it, the end.

Comments

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Good effing grief! They should have given you a voucher for dinner, if you ask me.

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

OMG, yes, I'd say that first doctor is fired.

[songspinner9.livejournal.com]

Yikes. Our local hospital is like that. Made us wait (and by "us" I mean my 12 year old daughter having a suspected anaphylactic reaction)
for an hour. And then another hour in the exam room. And then told us that it had been too long to do a test to see if it had been
a reaction and to what. *head against wall* I REALLY wish we had another choice of hospital in this city.

On the bright side for you, you now know a doctor who is a REAL doctor. :)

[jesseofthenorth.livejournal.com]

I hope Dr #2 kicked Dr#1's metaporical ass. That whole scenario screams lack of care. Which is not a quality you would appreciate in a Dr. :|

[sandrayln.livejournal.com]

I had one of those recently. I totally feel your pain.

[kallaneboi.livejournal.com]

The last time I went to the doctor they x-rayed my head to see if I had a sinus infection. It was about at that point I began to wonder, but after a shot and the two prescriptions ("See which one makes you better," they told me. It wasn't the shot, let me tell you that.) I decided I was never going back to that clinic. (I now have photographic proof that I have a brain, though.)

I'm glad Doctor #2 stood up for you. That whole situation is just fucking ridiculous. My blood pressure would have been high too.

[mysid.livejournal.com]

One doctor fired; new doctor found. Ta da!

I've been "forgotten" while waiting for a doctor twice. Once was my former OB/GYN. Any woman will tell you that they tend to be notoriously behind schedule, so it took me a long time to realize that everyone who arrived after me was going in before me. Apparently, when they crossed out the name above mine on the sign-in sheet, they crossed out mine as well. I ended up being the last patient seen that day, hours after my scheduled appt. time.

The other time was an appt. for my daughter at a hospital with the head of the liver transplant dept. and one of the surgeons. I'm giving them a pass on that one, although we did wait for hours because the whole chain reaction of fail started with one of the doctors getting cancer and needing to cancel her appointments due to chemo.

[fleurrochard]

My over 90 years old grandfather got forgotten in a doctor's office one time. As in he got into the exam room, he got the infusion he was coming for and they left him alone.
And then forgot him.
And went home. Into their weekend.

And my grandfather, after realizing that he'd been there rather long and everything seemed suspiciously quiet and no one responded to him calling, pulled out the infusion needle and went to look what he could do.

Gladly he found the doctor's private number and the man rushed back from home to get him out. (Otherwise he would have called the police and I don't think the doctor would have been happy about that.)

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

OMG that happened an episode of a TV show called Spirited too, except it was a dentist.

[mysid.livejournal.com]

That one wins.

[gaedhal.livejournal.com]

Two words --

Malpractice suit.

No kidding.

[illian.livejournal.com]

Cranky Sam had every reason to be cranky.

[harkpad02.livejournal.com]

I hope you followed that healthy apple with an inhale of some of those Peeps your mom sent you the other day.

[aynatonal.livejournal.com]

Your restraint is admirable. When my blood sugar gets low, I'm likely to decapitate innocent bystanders, let alone negligent doctors/doctors' office staff.

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

I'm used to getting in to see doctors pretty much right away in France - except my GP, who is always running way behind, and according to my French PA that is often how it is. I recently had to see her (the MD, not the PA) for the first time in 4 years and it was a 3 hour wait, unusual even for her. She's sweet, smart, up on her stuff and very very thorough (one reason for the chronic lateness), and I know to always have lots to read or work on when I go there. But still. Reminder to self: next time make appointment for early in morning.

[lunar8i8star.livejournal.com]

This right here is why I've been dragging my heels about finding a doctor in Chicago. I would be beyond cranky.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

If you don't need a specialist (or if you need a regular doctor and don't have one) may I suggest Michigan Avenue Immediate Care? They are my go-to for sniffles, aches, and non-emergency injuries. They're nice, work on a sliding scale with people who don't have insurance, and I've always had really prompt and thorough care there. They're convenient to the El (and, for me, to my work).

[lunar8i8star.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I keep them in mind for sure. It's close to work for me too. :)

[ysabet.livejournal.com]

I'm glad they got to the shouting point; I've met many excellent doctors who were highly worthy of their sheepskins, but I've also met a few whose heads were so far up their asses that they could almost certainly see daylight. Hope the one who went to bat for you works out.

One of the very few perks to having gone through cancer (other than having survived it, of course) is that if you go into an ER and you're sick and you tell them you have a compromised immune system, they generally triage you to an exam room pretty quick. Nobody wants to find out later on that the comp-IS patient got pneumonia while waiting for four hours in the lobby...

[cat63.livejournal.com]

Oh that's appalling! Blood tests are enough fun on their own, without being made to wait ages and then not having them after all :(

At least the second doctor was looking out for you.

Have a Babirusa Of Rage for Doctor Fired.

[kessie.livejournal.com]

That second doctor is awesome.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

He was pretty cool :)

[forest-rose.livejournal.com]

Doctor fail! I'm sorry that happened to you, love, and apologise on behalf of my profession. Yay for Doctor 2, though - he sounds like a good person. xx

[kaesa.livejournal.com]

When I hear the phrase "doctor fight," I think of this. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VddHOZ2aEag) Doctor #2 = THE WINNINGEST. Doctor #1 should be forced to fight his evil robot double. Without having eaten for ten and a half hours.